Spring has sprung, chocolate eggs are filling the supermarkets and all attention is turning to the celebration of Easter. Plan a festive and fun Easter celebration for both adults and children with these easy entertaining ideas and brilliant buys.
1. Springtime swaps
Easter is such a joyous holiday because it signals the start of spring in most people’s minds. We begin to lighten the number of layers we wear and opt for fresher shades instead of dark neutrals. I love to carry this lighter mood throughout my home so that guests at Easter immediately feel a sense of spring when they arrive at my house. Simple swaps are the way to go. First, try switching a couple of larger framed pictures in your living or dining room for wall mirrors. They’ll instantly make a space feel bigger and brighter. I tend to store away all of those gorgeous heavily textured blankets and cushions I love to drape on and over chairs in winter, and instead swap in pastel coloured throws and cushion covers with pretty prints of spring flowers and foliage. I also place a bird feeder outside a large window so that even when sitting indoors, guests feel connected to nature and the outdoors. I’m also a big fan of wreaths. We tend to think of them as Christmas accessories, but there’s a wreath to suit every occasion and time of year, so why not hang one on your hall door as a signal to guests that the Easter celebration is underway inside?
2. Make an entrance
Very often we forget about one of the most important spaces in our homes when welcoming guests – the hallway. We adorn the front of our houses with wreaths and then channel all of our efforts into sprucing up the living areas, forgetting that first impressions are made in hallways. There are several ways you can add a cheery, Easter celebratory feel to this neglected space. Fairy lights, for instance, are not just for Christmas. They instantly add a warm welcoming glow to a hallway, which both children and adults will appreciate. Drape them around a mirror or along a console table for a pretty display. Buy a blackboard to hang on a wall or prop up on a table and scribble a fun welcome message on it. Including your guests’ names in the message will make for a wonderful and thoughtful surprise. Lay a rug on the floor if there isn’t one there already. It will immediately make the hallway feel more like a ‘room’ and soften the acoustics as children run inside and out to play and hunt eggs. Position a cake stand on your hall table and cover it with pretty foil-wrapped chocolate eggs. Finally, lighting a scented candle will complete the atmosphere. Try a fresh, floral scent such as lavender or sweet pea.
3. Be eggstravagant with your dining table
Be playful with your Easter dining table for your Easter celebration by introducing plenty of egg-inspired ornaments and motifs. A wire egg basket, for instance, could be the basis for a pretty centrepiece by simply filling it with eggs and topping it off with an abundance of artificial flowers – choose festive colours such as lavender and yellow for maximum effect. Alternatively, fill a decorative bowl on a stand with colourful chocolate eggs of different sizes for a simple but impactful Easter celebration display, and continue this theme by using pretty egg cups as holders for place names. Small chocolate bunnies, meanwhile, make great party favours and they’ll bring cuteness to the overall feel of your table, which children will love. But an Easter table can be both elegant and fun. Dot small succulents, either real or artificial, around the table, as they have an architectural appearance, which will add style and sophistication to the overall look. Choosing one colourway for your table linen and candles and embracing it in different shades and prints will also help to create a uniform and refined aesthetic. To showcase your attention to detail, buy fresh cushion covers for cushion pads in the very same colourway. Choose a nature-inspired shade as it’s a spring celebration.
4. Take the party outside
It may rain all day, but then again there may be a bright blue sky ideal for eating beneath. In the UK, you can’t predict the weather at Easter but you can be prepared for it, so don’t forget to decorate your outside space and be prepared for your Easter celebration. This way, if the weather is in your favour, you can easily transport the Easter celebrations out into the back garden or onto your apartment balcony. Invest in some outdoor furniture. Now is the perfect time, as you’ll get several months use out of it. It’s always a good idea to buy additional fold-up chairs too, so that you always have extra seating to hand if you need it. Pretty up your outdoor space by clustering together plant pots or balcony planters filled with daffodils (artificial if, like me, you weren’t organised enough to plant bulbs last September!). Hang attractive lanterns around the space too; they’ll make the space feel more inviting, plus they’ll provide mood lighting if your celebrations stretch on into the evening. Cushions with Easter motifs will add to the celebratory scene, while making it comfortable for guests to sit outside for longer. It’s nice to carry the outdoor theme right through to your tablescape, so think about including little packets of flower seeds as favours – adults as well as children love to take something home from a party.
5. Sunshine yellow
The colour most associated with Easter is, of course, yellow, so why not use this sunshine shade to create a beautifully festive atmosphere for your Easter celebration? Place cheery yellow towels in each bathroom, a yellow bath mat and a tonal soap dispenser for a really fresh and festive look. Dot two or three pretty yellow vases around your living room to bring the space together and brighten up forgotten corners. Fill these vases with flowers in the same colour for a really impactful display. If you’re having guests staying overnight, pick up some eye-catching yellow-print bed linen and a complementary bedspread for an especially welcoming feel. I love to add bolster cushions to a guest bedroom too as it gives the space a smart, boutique hotel feel. If you have a wreath hanging on your front door, double the welcoming feel by placing a joyful yellow door mat on your front porch. Yellow is such a feel-good colour that peppering it around your home, or entertaining space, can be transformative in terms of lifting the mood of a room. Wall art is another great way of reinforcing this colour theme, but it also helps to bring personality to a room. Choose images in sets of two or three for a stylish display.
